Ryan Seacrest: Ashing wasn't a planned stunt

Meagan Morris is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist living in New York City. In addition to SheKnows, Morris contributes to many publications including The New York Times, Yahoo! News, PopEater, NBC New York and Spinner. Follow he...

"I was surprised, but not surprised," Seacrest said on his radio show Monday morning. "I definitely did not know he was going to do that."

Cohen — in character as The Dictator — sprinkled "ashes" on Seacrest on the red carpet. The actor told the E! host that it was the body of deceased North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il, adding that it was Jong-Il's "dream to come to the Oscars and be sprinkled over the red carpet and Halle Berry's chest."

Berry wasn't there, so Seacrest made a suitable replacement.

"In the back of my head I'm thinking, 'This guy isn't coming as The Dictator to not do something.' To what extent, I don't know," the American Idol host said. "You know in your gut, you feel like, this is going too normally. It just seemed like, he didn't put all that on to just answer a couple questions in character."

Seacrest wasn't upset over the incident, but The Bachelor host Chris Harrison was pretty ticked over the whole thing.

"I was mad as hell that it wasn't me. I was immediately jealous that I wasn't part of the biggest moment on the Red Carpet," Harrison joked to his friend Monday morning.

Seacrest wasn't mad, mostly because he had reinforcements.

"My mom told me when I was a mini red carpet reporter, 'You always want to have two jackets. You never know what's going to happen. You never know what you're going to spill on yourself and you want to be red carpet-ready at all times. That's your job.' So I had another jacket."

So, what were the ashes comprised of — other than the body of a ruthless dictator?